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A History of D&D Video Games - Part III

There have been some great D&D video games over the years, along with some we'd like to forget.

All this week, we're looking back at the 30-year history of Dungeons & Dragons -- which naturally includes the many video games that have been based on the license. Some of these games you may have played and loved. Some of them may be available in bargain bins or on eBay. And some of them should have been dropped into the deepest pit in the Abyss where Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders should torment them from now until the day the sun grows cold. Regardless, though, all of them will bring back memories. In yesterday's entry we talked about many of the classic games that came from SSI's exclusive seven year deal with TSR. Today, we move from eyeing Beholders to the dark city of the Drow.

Part III: 1993-1994

1993

Eye of the BeholderPublisher: SSI
Developer: SSI
Platforms: PC

Eye of the Beholder III was a classic example of a company churning out a quick sequel to a good game and simply not giving it the love and care it really deserves. SSI did the development chores on this one itself, building on the great foundation of the previous game; it would have been really hard to make this game bad -- which it wasn't. The game sported the same combat and movement system that Westwood had first pioneered, along with some minor interface and gameplay improvements. Unfortunately, the game fell down for two reasons. First, the game's storyline was pretty pedestrian. Storylines in D&D games had started out fairly rudimentary, but the stories in games like Pools of Darkness and the previous Eye of the Beholder games had raised the bar. The major flaw, though, was the same one that had so damaged Secret of the Silver Blades -- allowing players to import characters from previous games meant that much of the game was too easy for a lot of players.

When one considers that Silicon Knights has gone on to make its greatest splash in the gaming world with action/adventure fair such as Blood Omen and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, it's difficult to believe that the company started out as a respectable PC developer of solid strategy games. Fantasy Empires was a more complex version of its previous game Cyber Empires, with a healthy dose of D&D trappings layered on top. Basically, players took control of a Dungeons & Dragons army in a single province and used it to conquer the entire world. Players could also use their vassal heroes to go on quests to find magic and artifacts that very often meant the difference between victory and defeat. Overall, Fantasy Empires was a solid and fun strategy game, as well as an oddly forgotten credit for an excellent developer.

A decade before BioWare's Neverwinter Nights would offer the same service, SSI pressed the Gold Box engine into service one last time for Unlimited Adventures. Unlimited Adventures was an RPG construction kit for anyone who had the time and patience to put together an adventure from the insane amount of tools SSI packaged in the box. Would-be game developers had access to 127 different monsters, 100 different event triggers, and a framework that could hold an adventure consisting of four different wilderness areas or 36 dungeon levels. While the game's graphics were poor (at the time the Gold Box engine was five years old) and using the tools could be a little complicated, Unlimited Adventures was an excellent tool for budding RPG designers.